Quick gift ideas part one

I've finally caught up with one of my best friends and been able to hand over some very delayed presents, but actually this is a good thing because now I can share them with you lovely bunch of coconuts and maybe you can use the idea for an up and coming gift swapping festival. Not dropping any hints but you could share this blog with some of your fellas, they need a nudge around February time.
This part of the gift looks pretty shoddy without its other half but I hope you'll appreciate it. The candle was bought but then embellished using jute string, dried orange pieces and cinnamon. It smells amazing already but when it's lit it's so much better. The candle cost very little to make and chances are you have everything you need to make it already in your craft stash or fruit bowl. I'm thinking dried apple would make a nice spring occasion alternative. Then the wash cloth (I've become American here because my blog is actually read more by Americans - yes I check the audience and thanks American followers - and also because the English equivalent of 'Flannel' just sounds awful, I mean how many of you are thinking of grandma's spit being rubbed off your face right now?) Anyway, then the wash cloth was just rolled and unrolled using a YouTube clip I found. It's supposed to be a rose for those of you that lack imagination.

Decopatch-ish?

It happened again. I read Crafts Beautiful and had to succumb to its crafting compulsives. This time it's a crafty hoop art thing. 

This is something I find really frustrating about my hobbies within craft I find they don't really have a real name. 

Anyway, before I get too involved with my rant, these 3D pictures caught my eye and with one of my besties having already had a baby and another one 18 weeks along, these were what I thought great ideas as a replacement present. Although I made a baby blanket for the first bestie, the second has a mamma that is essentially a knitting machine and I know when I'm beaten so thought I'd give this a go instead. 

To start I got a large embroidery hoop, weirdly enough I had one lying around the house. I then used this to draw the required circle shape onto a piece of wall paper sample - also just lying around and the perfect colour to boot. I cut the circle and attached some green material for the grass to give a 3D effect from the outset. I also had the fabric lying around, it was last used 12 years ago for a school project. I then cut out geometric shapes from patterned paper that, you guessed it, was just in my craft stash for the trees. The rainbow was the hardest and part of me wishes I had printed this off to save time but I quite like the uneven element, I mean how many times do you see a perfect rainbow? It then was about assembly and deciding which parts belonged where. 

I decided that it looked far too bland and as the magazine had a bear I thought I would copy their idea, except the baby is due in June when it's sunny (hence the rainbow) and I didn't have a bear. I did have a printer and laptop so I printed a cartoon Dino for the baby boy who already has a Dino themed room and a puppy for the baby that is unborn, I know the parents are dog people so thought this was a safe choice. 

I printed them out three times and gradually just built up the characters to create the 3Dness using foam sticky pads that were in my craft corner. After that it was about assembly again before sticking the lot down.

The flowers were a strike of genius that I can take no credit for, I found them when looking for a craft knife and thought they would look awesome. I think that they do anyway. The spaces at the bottom are for names or messages for the parents to decide on. Next to what Crafts Beautiful made I'm pretty pleased with it.

It's not as good but I do love it. My other half is already listing the variations we could do although I'm going to have to find a better way to attach the picture to the hoop as my elbow is still sore from the carpet burns I got from crawling on the floor with my glue gun!

Spoilt for choice

I've been making loads just recently which is really handy because I'm going to have loads of blogging material for you lovely lot when my life gets too busy to make stuff. I hope this never happens but I have to be realistic exam season is upon us. As such I was spoilt for choice when choosing a make for this blog but I've gone for a commission I made recently.
The pooch attached to this blog is a bespoke draught excluder. It's not the first one I've ever made but I think it might be my favourite.
What I love about this project is that as long as you can straight stitch you can make this cutie. You need to cut in straight lines too - sometimes the harder aspect of making. As my very wise mamma once said - if you cut out the fabric incorrectly no amount of sewing is going to put it right. But those are the only skills you need.
I love getting commissions because it means people think my makes are worth paying for, so if you fancy boosting my ego ever so slightly have a look through my blogs and let me know which one you might like and I will let you know how many silver coins I'm going to ask you to cross my palm with.

Craft central

I'm not a naturally organised person. My favourite expression is 'we'll get organised tomorrow' but with the new year comes the obligation to tidy. Another reason to love Christmas more than new year's eve. Now let me make something clear, I'm under no circumstances resolving to become a tidy person. As much as my husband may want me to the chances are it would last 30 minutes and while sitting still so as not to disturb the organisation I would browse a craft magazine, find something I want to make and create a new mess more spectacular than the last. I have however tidied some bits up and dedicated one room of my house to mess rather than have it spread out all over the place. I love my new craft corner and think for an inherently messy person it's pretty awesome. Not quite awesome enough to make me want to do it on a regular basis. I wonder how long it will last, anyone want to place bets?

Don't be cheap

I indulged today in trying two new crafts and I can honestly say I wish I hadn't bothered. They both seemed like good ideas at the time and the tutorials very straightforward however I've been fooled by simple tutorials before.
I'm only going to share one of my disasters as I am hoping to start again with the second one and do it right. So disaster 1, as it shall now be named, was inspired by the latest pinterest craze that is making a clutch bag from a book. Easy right? Wrong. Can I just encourage you lovely folk if you want the perfect clutch book bag just head over to notonthehighstreet.com and treat yourself - much more rewarding than a pile of fabric glued to a book.
Anyway back to disaster 1. I had measured everything perfectly and even happened to have the right sized zip. All the sewing parts went seamlessly - excuse the pun - but my biggest mistake was using cheap fabric glue. You can see the offender sat in the corner of one of my pictures, mocking me. I've used it before for small projects but trusting it on this bad boy was probably a bit naive.
It holds the fabric but only after you have cuddled it for three hours, sung it a nursery song and allowed it to suck your nipples. Ok perhaps a little melodramatic but it is annoying. Equally if you don't have the steadiest hand there is the high possibility of it shooting out of the nozzle all over either yourself or your unsuspecting dog. Not good. So although I like to think of myself as an optimist I'm not sure I'm going to be able to salvage the clutch book bag. And I don't even like breaking books for craft. What a waste!
I have learned to invest more wisely in proper materials if I want the job doing properly though.
Every cloud and all that.

Craft presents... for me!

I've found a way to blog about handmade gifts without spoiling gifts -yep I've still not given all the gifts out. For the record I'm not a social recluse it's just my nearest and dearest live far away. Anyway, these blogs are going to be about gifts I've received and although I'm in danger of upsetting a few people I'm going to put my neck on the line and say this is my favourite.
This is the friend that gets cross at me for making her stuff, she claims she can't make stuff. Clearly she has been lying.
You may be asking why I would stay friends with such an obvious liar, however she knows too much about me and we have too much in common for me to ever consider not treasuring this friend.
One thing we have is Grey's Anatomy. After I had a really rough week about 18 months ago my friend bought and had delivered the entire 1-8 season boxset. She claimed the reason I needed to watch it was one of the main characters reminded her so strongly of me she was sure I would love it. She was right. As my husband and I watched the programme even my other half saw the resemblance to Christina Yang - clearly the best character. When I told other Grey's addicts of the links to the character they were shocked my bestie could think something so mean of me. See Christina Yang is a harsh character. She has an insane work ethic and is prepared to sacrifice friends for the benefit. She says what she thinks even when it's not socially acceptable. She is completely unable to control her facial expressions and lastly she is an ugly crier. Beautiful the rest of the time but when she rarely cries - it ain't pretty perhaps a reason she doesn't do it very often. She also only lets a select few in.
Maybe now you're wondering why my friend is still invested in a friendship with me. Seeing all these things makes me happy that my friend is my person. A concept from the show. Your person is someone who you can rely on. They know how ugly you can be and happily take a selfie with you. They are the person that if you rob a bank they drive the getaway car. Or as my person wrote on my gift: 'if I murdered someone she is the person I would call to help me drag the corpse across the floor'.
I'm not advocating murder. For the record I'm against murder. But I'm glad I have my person.
This gift is my favourite because I love the type written quotation, I love the scrabble tiles and the black chunky frame. It's already up on the wall. But mostly I love what the gift will remind me of. By the rules of written work I should now systematically round up all the things I love about my friend. That wouldn't be very Christina of me though would it.

Still no spoilers

It's Thursday. On Thursdays I write my blog. Unfortunately I still haven't seen all of my friends to give them their gifts so there are somethings I just can't talk about yet. However, my husband has opened all his gifts and as he isn't immune to the odd handmade gift I can safely share with you one gift he received.
Along with having the unusual name, unusual hobbies and an unusually accepting nature - comes in handy when I want yet another craft machine- my other half is unusually difficult to buy for. I know men can be difficult to buy for but this guy tops the charts.
He treats himself as and when he likes, he doesn't covet things of others', except the PS4 pretty sure he covets that and he prefers to buy his own clothes. He has expensive taste: he fell for me after all and his collections require detailed research.
That leaves me with buying him the obligatory socks, dvds that he hasn't already bought and the necessary onesie or I break into a bank and get the money for the PS4.
I went for a more original idea. Toiletries. Boring I know. However, this set had a special coupon inside. It was a kind of voucher/I.O.U that he is allowed to redeem throughout the next year. I've done him a book of vouchers before and as they were so successful I decided to keep up the tradition as it allows him to get a present he wants, me to spread the cost and Christmas to last all year. That's a hat trick folks.